How Old Is Your Reef?

[RMS18]

Curious to know how old the average reef is on R2R. However this is kind of a loaded question, so here are some stipulations:

Must have been able to support corals and or fish during this "tracking" time.

Any "restarts" from dinos, bugs or parasites that required you to break down and start back up with new rock, live or dry does not count.

If you battled something but corals and fish stayed that is fine, we all have had our fights.

Let the poll begin!

 

[MONTANTK]

Well I didn’t select anything because I’m not at a year yet. I think I’m at 3 or 4 months

 

[RMS18]

Well I didn’t select anything because I’m not at a year yet. I think I’m at 3 or 4 months

Oops! Sorry just saw I missed under a year, just added it

 

[brandon429]

Paul's tank, the oldest home reef, is excluded from your poll due to constraints. cleaning out a tank or moving it doesnt reset anything. even transferring current contents into a new glass structure isn't a new reef, and any skip cycle reef that used pet store live rocks covered in real coralline and fanworms wasn't a new setup.

 

[RMS18]

Paul's tank, the oldest home reef, is excluded from your poll due to constraints. cleaning out a tank or moving it doesnt reset anything. even transferring current contents into a new glass structure isn't a new reef, and any skip cycle reef that used pet store live rocks covered in real coralline and fanworms wasn't a new setup.

I added the high end option for Paul actually. The thought behind the constraints is how old is the avg reef that is set up and left alone. I get this could exclude some, maybe I can adjust the original post a bit. There, that should help a bit.

 

[MichaelReefer]

@Paul B wins

 

[Nick Steele]

Any "restarts" from dinos, bugs or parasites that required you to clear out the corals and or fish then "starting" back up doesn't count.

Well I don’t know how I feel about these stipulation. I had to remove my fish for 76 days due to ich. Corals stayed in tank and did good. Also I did a rip clean where I removed everything from the tank for about 4-6 hours while I cleaned it and removed my sandbed to get rid of my Dino’s. Yes it was a reset but I didn’t have any cycle and corals looked better right after.

I voted 1-2

 

[RMS18]

Well I don’t know how I feel about these stipulation. I had to remove my fish for 76 days due to ich. Corals stayed in tank and did good. Also I did a rip clean where I removed everything from the tank for about 4-6 hours while I cleaned it and removed my sandbed to get rid of my Dino’s. Yes it was a reset but I didn’t have any cycle and corals looked better right after.

I voted 1-2

If there was no cycle then it counts. I made a few changes to help out.

 

[LRT]

Voted 1-2 years although recently fully upgraded my system to bigger system.

 

[takitaj]

1-2 here. Tank just turned 1 year a week or so ago.

 

[RMS18]

Bump! It would be cool to see 1000+ votes!!

 

[N.Sreefer]

My seam blew on my old tank and I switched everything (rock wise) to a larger tank with some dry rock added. Guessing that means I'm only at 2 years (that's what I voted) but the rock is 8 mabey 9 years old. Same with most of the substrate.

 

[ZoWhat]

My LR is 8 billion years old

Give or take


.

 

[Nano sapiens]

My LR is 8 billion years old

Give or take


.

Since the earth is around 4.65 billion years old (depending on who you talk to), that means your LR originally came from outer space!

Do you know how much you can get for true 'out-of-this-world' live rock?!!!

 

[dennis romano]

One of my tanks has been running for over 20 years. There is a blue octocoral and several mushrooms that have been there since the beginning.

 

[RMS18]

One of my tanks has been running for over 20 years. There is a blue octocoral and several mushrooms that have been there since the beginning.

That's awesome!

 

[Paul B]

If moving doesn't count, then my reef was only in one place, in the same tank for 40 years.

It seems the average in your poll is under one year which is not surprising.

 

[Billdogg]

I've been at this since about 1987. Many of the rocks, and therefore the life on them, are from my original tank. In that time, I've had between 1 and 5 tanks going continuously. So I guess 34 years and counting

 

[RMS18]

If moving doesn't count, then my reef was only in one place, in the same tank for 40 years.

It seems the average in your poll is under one year which is not surprising.

I was surprised, I want to know more on why there aren't more older tanks.

 

[Paul B]

I always wondered about that too. There are almost no old tanks and almost all of them are Noob tanks.
Where are all the tanks that started when I started in the early 70s?

None left!